Interaction of a hydrophilic molecule with bovine serum albumin: A combined multi-spectroscopic, microscopic and isothermal calorimetric study in the presence of graphene oxide

Abstract

One of the most widely studied plasma protein is bovine serum albumin (BSA), and it plays a crucial role in the binding and transportation of many exogenous and endogenous drugs. Coumarin derivatives play a crucial role as an analgesic, anticancer, and anticoagulant agent. Here in this report, we have studied the binding interaction between a 7-amino coumarin derivative, namely 7-(N, N′-diethylamino)coumarin-3-carboxylic acid (7-DCCA) with BSA and also have found out the effect of graphene oxide (GO) on the binding interaction. The binding interaction was probed by employing various spectroscopic, microscopic, isothermal titration calorimetric (ITC), and by using molecular docking studies. The change in absorption and emission maxima position of BSA and 7-DCCA in the absence and presence of GO along with the change in absorbance and emission intensity when we titrated by 7-DCCA or BSA respectively indicates the strong complexation between 7-DCCA and BSA. From the fluorescence resonance energy transfer study, the average distance between tryptophan 213 of the BSA (donor), and the 7-DCCA (acceptor) is found ~50 Ǻ. From excited-state lifetime and fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) studies, we observed that the average lifetime of 7-DCCA is much higher in the presence of BSA compared to buffer medium and in the presence of BSA a heterogeneous environment was created around 7-DCCA. Again in the presence of GO, the formation of a complex of 7-DCCA with a low concentration of BSA shows greater binding interaction as compared to that in the absence of GO. Time-resolved fluorescence anisotropy measurement shows that the addition of GO provides a restricted environment surrounding the 7-DCCA molecule in the presence of both low and high concentrations of BSA. CD study demonstrates the same extent of reduction of α-helical content of BSA protein on binding with 7-DCCA in the absence and presence of GO. ITC study revealed that the interaction between 7-DCCA and BSA is favoured by negative enthalpy change and positive entropy change. Also, from the ITC study, we find out that GO doesn't inflict significant change in the overall global binding interaction pattern, rather it inflicts changes in the mechanistic pathways of binding between 7-DCCA and BSA. Step-scan FTIR studies show the modification of amide I and amide II bonds with time when complexation occurs between BSA and 7-DCCA in the absence and presence of GO. The docking result reveals that the deprotonated form of 7-DCCA has positioned at a distance of ~3.7 nm from Trp 213. Thus these interactions play a central role in the development of coumarin derivative based small molecules to be used for both academic and industrial purposes.